


Blank Slate

by Snorp_Lord



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Amnesia, Antisepticeye Sean McLoughlin, Henrik von Schneeplestein - Freeform, Jackieboyman - Freeform, Jameson Jackson - Freeform, Marvin the Magnificent - Freeform, Robbie the zombie - Freeform, Sean McLoughlin Egos, chase brody - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-06-02 21:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19449520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snorp_Lord/pseuds/Snorp_Lord
Summary: Anti wakes up in a destroyed living room, surrounded by people who look like him, but has no idea what the hell happened. Now the other egos have to adapt to an Anti who's...nothing like they remember him.





	1. Prologue

When Anti woke up, he didn't open his eyes immediately. His whole body still felt heavy. But as for why...Well, that part was still a mystery. Maybe he should be worried about that, but right now he couldn't quite find the energy to care about it a whole lot. To be perfectly honest, he wouldn't have minded going back to sleep, even just for a bit. Just a short rest...Already he could feel it creeping up on him. If it wasn’t for the pounding at his temples, he might have already slipped back into the comfortable, warm void of unconsciousness.

The sleepy sensation was shaken out of him, quite literally, by someone who was most likely in front of him, if the voice was any indication. Slight Irish accent. Definitely male. Even if it was a little high-pitched. "-ti? Anti? Oh gosh, please wake up! Is he…?”

Another voice. “Let me through, dummköpfe.”

“You’re not seriously gonna help him, are ya?”

A quiet smacking sound. “Jackie!”

Slowly, his head was lifted, with mumbles drifting by in a language Anti didn’t quite recognise. It sounded familiar, though. Hauntingly so. As were the hands on his head, with something about the touch making his chest lurch. Anti’s eyes flicked half-open, blurry view trying to take in his surroundings. As bright, artificial light flooded into it instead, he squeezed his eyes shut again. And now they knew he was awake. Shit. Well, no point pretending any longer. “Wh-?” The second Anti spoke, he felt those hands retract like they’d been burned. Again he tried to ask a question, but his throat hurt, and he preferred not forcing too many words past it. “What…?”

Silence. Dammit. Anti grit his teeth, pulling himself up onto his elbows. “What’s going on?”

For a second, no response came. Then, the same heavily accented voice spoke up, quiet and nervous. “Anti? H-How do you feel?”

“Like shit. Now answer me.”

Again it seemed like nobody wanted to talk. But this time, the original voice chimed in with a question, calmer now. “Um...What do you mean?”

“Why does everything hurt? Where the hell are we?”

Worried glances were exchanged between the various people scattered through the room. Anti could finally see, at least a little, the blurriness easing off. With that, he could see who was actually there. Three people. All male, all roughly the same height, and all with the same face. Weird. Some of them were pretty weirdly dressed, too. All wearing some kind of mask. When his gaze landed on the one in the blue mask, Anti saw him tense up and clench his fists. Even weider. But it was the one in the white cat mask who spoke.

“Anti, do you not...remember what just happened?”

“Okay, seriously, what the fuck are you talking about?”

More worried glances, but no immediate response. “Is anyone gonna tell me what’s going on?”

“Anti...do you...do you remember what just happened? Right before you got knocked out?”

“No…?”

Another round of glances, and by now, Anti was getting more than a little frustrated. “Is someone gonna tell me what the hell happened already?!”

“...Anti. We...think...you may have...lost your memory.”


	2. Family

A period of terse silence passed. The longer it dragged on, the more uncomfortable Jackie became. He wasn’t good with quiet moments, or with staying still, so he preoccupied himself with making his way around the living room, flipping the overturned furniture back into its original position. A few pieces were damaged from the earlier fight, slashes and scorch marks all over the fabric. Thankfully, the black color of most of the armchairs and sofas meant that the soot on them didn’t show too much. If need be, Marvin could probably fix them. If not, maybe they could cover it up with throws and cushions; nobody really visited that would pay much mind anyway. Stacey might raise an eyebrow if she noticed, but she was generally more relaxed about the chaos that went on in the Septic household nowadays. As long as the kids stayed out of it.

Snippets of the conversation drifted past, but ultimately, Jackie tried his best to ignore it. He didn’t want to hear it. Right now, it was bad enough trying to calm the adrenaline still pumping through him, as well as dealing with the injuries the previous fight had left him with. Mostly small cuts, barely skimming the skin. Bleeding pretty badly though. Damn that knife. His hoodie would probably need to be repaired. Jameson could probably do that, or maybe Henrik. They both knew how to sew better than the rest. Thinking about it, he should probably learn, if only so he didn’t have to keep bothering them when he ripped up his suit.

Since Henrik was occupied checking on Anti, Jackie instead left to find Jameson. Maybe he could check on everyone else while he was there. After all, having Anti show up so suddenly was a shock to the system for everyone. There had barely been time for those who couldn’t fight to get away before Anti started swinging. Why he hadn’t glitched away to pursue someone like Chase, he wasn’t sure. He had been sure that with just him and Marvin fighting, the glitch couldn’t be held up for long, but not only had they managed, it seemed that they’d been able to beat him. Odd.

Really, the credit went to Marvin, for whatever that last spell was. All he remembered of it was a burst of green light blasting past. When it slammed into Anti, the entire room had exploded into white. Whatever had immediately followed was a blank. Next thing he knew, Jackie was rubbing his eyes and picking himself off the floor from behind the overturned couch, with Henrik saying something he couldn’t quite discern. Like a flashbang had gone off in their faces. Anti was motionless in the centre of the room while Marvin crouched over him. 

Marvin had still refused to move from that spot when both of them tried to pull him away. Any second, Anti could have woken up, hell, he could have been pretending the whole time, just to get in a surprise attack! The magician’s optimistic outlook on Anti had always been endearing, but it had no place in a fight. Assuming the best in general had no place in a fight. On one hand, Jackie was pretty glad his younger brother had never become as cynical or suspicious as he seemed to be nowadays, but on the other, he’d hate it if Marvin got hurt just because he was trying to be nice. 

He was pulled from his thoughts by a light tap on his shoulder, jolting up to meet Jameson’s concerned frown. A little smile made its way onto his face in an attempt to reassure the youngest ego before he got any more worried. “Hey. We’re all okay, don’t worry. It’s...kinda a long story. Get everyone together in the kitchen, I’ll, uh...I’ll try and explain. Kinda nuts.”

Jameson nodded, scurrying off to gather the other egos. Of course Jackie had to break the news. He was the oldest, after all. Although he really did wish he wasn’t sometimes. Being the oldest held certain unspoken rules. Granted, he would probably protect his brothers either way, and setting a good example was as easy as breathing for a superhero, but that pressure was still there, even if some part of him knew the others wouldn’t really care if he wasn’t perfect all the time. He had to hold himself to a higher standard. With that in mind, Jackie straightened up, posture more confident than he felt. 

As soon as he strode in, three sets of eyes flicked over to him, Robbie sandwiched between Chase and Jameson for comfort. Poor guy. He really seemed to have taken a shine to Anti, and Anti seemed...not to hate him, at least, so to have the glitch show up and start attacking must have been quite a shock.

“Hey, how you holding up?”

Robbie just groaned, snuggling further into Chase’s arms. It was the dad who spoke up. “He’s...pretty shaken up, but he’s doing better than before. Ya like hugs, dontcha?”

“Mhm…” The zombie rested further into Chase without any further comments. 

May as well drop the bombshell now, since there was no good time to say it. “Guys, this is...pretty important, so I’ll just say it. Anti got hit pretty bad, right at the end of the fight. He’s saying he doesn’t remember anything from before the fight. We kinda think he might have...lost all his memory. Like...everything.”

Silence, and Jackie was quickly getting sick of things being too quiet. Thankfully Chase seemed to pick up on his discomfort, trying to find a way to alleviate Jackie’s discomfort without coming across as too worried. “Do you...believe him?”

“...No.”

“Does anyone?”

“Think Marv and maybe Hen. Not sure. You know how Marv is, though.”

A soft nod answered him, and neither of them said any more on that, not wanting to get into it while the younger egos were there. Just hearing about Anti was probably crazy enough. They didn’t need more to worry about. Jackie may have been the oldest, but Chase was still a father, and he looked after the two as much as he did his own children. It was both frustrating and endearing. Nothing was better after a long patrol than hanging out with Chase, though telling everyone to get to bed early had earned the dad more than a few eyerolls. He didn’t seem to mind. 

“So what now?”

Before Jackie had a chance to respond, the door swung open to show a mildly dishevelled and extremely stressed-looking Henrik, running hands through his already messy brown hair. “Could you all come with me to the living room?”


	3. Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very vague allusion to Chase being suicidal in this chapter

Anti was just about ready to bolt before the weirdo with the surgical mask came back, and it didn’t help that he had a couple more in tow, again all with the same face, just with tiny differences to tell them apart. Little things, even subtle changes in the way they stood or the clothes they wore. Could this day get any stranger? Or maybe it was the looks they were giving him that really freaked him out most. Expectant, fearful, concerned. The concern was probably the worst. Who the hell were these guys, and why were they staring at him like that? He ended up being the one to break the silence. “Quit staring, assholes! I don’t know why the fuck you even brought me here, but stop being so weird!”

Their reactions were...mixed. The hurt on a few of those similar faces did odd things to his chest, twisting it and scrunching it up like a scrap of discarded fabric. But he pushed past it, more concerned with what the hell was going on and why he was here, in a destroyed living room with so many similar looking people staring down at him.

“...Who the hell are you people?”

It was the one in the cat mask who again spoke up. In all the time since Anti had woken up, he hadn’t moved from the glitch’s side, even an inch, crouching a little over him like he was shielding him from the rest. Which wasn’t really as reassuring as he probably thought it was. “We’re...to make a long story short, we’re brothers. We all came from the same person. You used to live here, with all of us, but lately you’ve been...around less.” He glanced furtively around at the others. “...And then you showed up today and we had a fight. I knocked you out with a spell, and...I guess you got hit really hard. And lost your memory.”

Well...that was...a lot. Unsurprisingly, Anti’s first reaction was to get annoyed, and it was directed straight at Marvin, coming out in the form of a shove that upset the magician’s balance and tipped him over to land on his ass with a yelp.

Before Anti could follow up with some kind of insult, he was being lifted off his feet, his t-shirt bunched up in Jackie’s fist as the hero easily held him up. Anti kicked at him, but his sneakers didn’t quite reach far enough to do anything more than graze past Jackie’s stomach while he glared.

“Cut it out.”

The low growl that Jackie’s voice had become made Anti freeze. It spoke to a very primal survival instinct, something embedded in his mind that told him get away get away get away-

Next thing he knew, he was on the other side of the room, body glitching even harder than it had been before, and none seemed more surprised about that than he did. He scrambled back to press himself into the wall, terrified eyes flicking back to Jackie. “The fuck was that? What did you just do?”

Jackie rolled his eyes. “Drop the act. You glitch all the time. It’s how you got here, duh.”

“Hey, whoever the fuck you are, this isn’t funny! What did you do to me?!”

The glare that he received as an answer told him nothing, which just made him more unsettled. “Are none of you gonna give me some goddamn answers about what the hell that was?” When they just went back to glancing between each other, Anti growled in frustration, pushing away from the wall. “I’m going.”

Marvin ran after him, grabbing at Anti’s arm only to be shrugged off. “I’m going. Leave me alone, okay?” He slumped, but didn’t protest, moving back as Anti shouldered open the living room door and stormed off.

Once Anti was out of view, he found himself wandering the hallways with very little idea of where he should go from here. Maybe bringing a guide would have been a good idea. But now if he went back, he’d probably look pretty ridiculous, not to mention stupid. And after his first impressions had already gone so swimmingly. Yeah, no chance. Not to mention that he’d have to see that weirdo with the blue mask and the teleporting magic again.

Before he knew it, he found himself on the roof, leaning on the edge as a soft breeze combed through his acid green hair. With the living room blinds down, he hadn’t been able to see what time it was. Now, out here, he could see the soft pinks and oranges painted across the sky, signalling that the evening was bleeding away slowly. The sun hadn’t set enough for it to get cold yet, so being outside in a t-shirt and ripped jeans wasn’t much of an issue. It was...soothing, in a way. Even though he could hear traffic somewhere in the distance, the air was mostly quiet and still. As Anti stepped out of the shadow of the door, he could feel the gentle warmth of the setting sun on his skin. The whole scene would have made an Anti with his memory intact retch.

He stayed up there even as the sun sank lower, and the golden sun was replaced with pale moonlight. Goosebumps rose up on his skin as the temperature dropped lower and lower. Still, Anti was perfectly content to stay up there, letting his mind stay blank instead of dealing with all of the day’s surprises. Until the door burst open, that was.

“ANTI?”

“...yeah?”

Chase jogged up behind him, babbling into his phone to reassure the rest of his accomplices that he’d found Anti, that there was no need to worry about him, and that he’d bring them both in safe. After quietly acknowledging the response, he shoved his cracked phone into his jeans pocket. “Man, I’m glad I found you! We all got really worried when you didn’t come in for ages! It’s Chase, can’t remember if I introduced myself.”

His enthusiastic grin was met with a scowl. “Sure. What, thought I got out or something? You guys can’t keep me in there for the rest of my fuckin’ life, genius.”

Again he was given those puppy dog eyes, though Chase quickly tried to cover it up with his easy smile. “Y-Yeah, you probably wanna get some space from us, huh? It’s just...Well, you were all confused and stuff, then you ran off and we couldn’t find you. We got kinda worried, you know?”

“...Why?”

Chase blinked in surprise, tilting his head a bit. Fair enough, it was a big question to spring on someone out of nowhere, even without making him speak for six other people (two of whom couldn’t really speak in the traditional sense). There were a few seconds of pensive silence before Chase sighed deeply and moved to lean against the raised edge of the rooftop. Some part of Anti’s mind told him he should pull Chase back, get him away from the edge, but he chose to stand there instead, crossing his arms.

“We’re a family.”

“...And?”

Chase gave him a tired smile, moving closer to pull Anti into a hug. “You’re my family. That’s enough for me. And even if you don’t like me right now, I wanna help you out. I don’t even mind if you wanna go after. But I just want to help.” 

The dad kept his arms in place until Anti hugged back, and he didn’t say anything when he felt Anti start to cry.


	4. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti stays the night with Chase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for blood in this chapter.

In the next few days, Anti found himself hanging around Chase more. Out of all the weirdos, Chase seemed the least weird, and the most understanding about how bizarre the situation was for Anti. So unsurprisingly, the two became almost inseparable. And since Chase liked hanging around the others, Anti found himself uncomfortably close to the rest of them too.

  
  


“Hey, you wanna come help me make breakfast?”

  
  


Anti groaned and rolled his eyes, but trailed after a beaming Chase as he headed for the shared kitchen. Yeah, he liked hanging out with the dad, but that was the only reason he ever left his room at the moment. He occasionally got a little hungry, but Chase was so determined about making sure he was well-fed that Anti was pretty sure he could be left on a deserted island and still survive without eating for a few weeks. It was a nice change from seeing his ribs pressing into the skin whenever he changed his shirt. 

  
  


That was another interesting discovery. He was quite a bit smaller than the rest of the house’s residents, and the jeans he’d borrowed from Chase hung off his waist loosely. Even after being stuffed with food while the dad fussed over him, Anti realized he was just...built smaller than the rest of them, all lanky and bony.

  
  


Which made being anywhere near the much taller and muscular Jackie all the more intimidating. So in general, there seemed to be an unspoken understanding between the two of them to give each other space. The sideways glances Jackie always gave him goosebumps anyway. Chase seemed to know it, too, often making sure to brush past Anti’s arm or call him over when he felt the tension mounting between them. Despite the glitch never verbally thanking Chase, the unspoken thanks he gave were seemingly enough. 

  
  


In general, Anti found himself far more keen on the unspoken than the spoken methods of being nice. Actions speak louder than words, after all. Which was why he'd ended up making Chase a lot of breakfast in bed.

  
  


It all started the night after he'd been crying on Chase's shoulder.

  
  


After that, the dad insisted that Anti stay in his room for the night, rather than go back to the bedroom he apparently had, somewhere in the maze of a building. While Anti had been hesitant to go to sleep around these guys (waking up to someone pressing a pillow over his head was a recurring, if pretty ridiculous, fear of his), Chase seemed harmless enough that Anti would have a decent chance in a fight. A little better than getting stuck with that creepy cat masked guy. Leagues better than getting stuck with the one that clearly didn't trust him. Jackie might hit him first just so Anti couldn't do it. 

  
  


The real Jackie wouldn't do that no matter how much he distrusted Anti, he was too sweet for that, and that was what made him such an easy puppet to guide.

  
  


Puppet. That was a word that kept cropping up as he mused about the strange people he found himself living with. He wasn't even really aware he was thinking it half the time, but when he caught himself contemplating how little string it would take to completely trap the doctor's slim wrists, Anti hastily excused himself and hid in the smaller dining room for the rest of the day. 

  
  


But that night, Anti found himself awkwardly perched on the edge of Chase’s bed, guilt gnawing at him while Chase set up a makeshift bed on his small couch. Despite his protests, the dad insisted repeatedly that Anti take the bed, and that he would sleep nearby. The reason he gave was something along the lines of wanting to be a good host, but Anti knew the real reason. Chase was just trying to look after him. Which was nice (if unfamiliar). 

  
  


Next thing he knew, everything was cold and dark, no light filtering into view. Where the hell was he? Looking around, acid green eyes struggling to pick out vague black shapes in the darkness. Trees, maybe? Before he could confirm it, the world lit up with red, thin streams of light twisting through the darkness.  _ Towards him.  _

  
  


A blind terror seized Anti as he scurried away, tripping over roots in his hurry to escape. The lights followed easily. Strings, he realised. All coming for him. As they began to catch up, Anti only got more desperate, pulling himself along with his hands whenever he fell. Trying to create distance.

  
  


But with so many, it was only a matter of time before he was caught.

  
  


The second a string touched his wrist, a sharp burst of static exploded behind his eyes. It persisted even after he ripped the string off and threw it aside. Static, static, static, buzzing in his skull. Between layers of it were whispers in an uncomfortably familiar voice. Telling him to stop running, to give in.

  
  


Tͬ̏̆̎͠o͖̱ͯͬ͗̔̇̑ ḇ̡̙ͭͥͧͭe̠̹ͅ ̫͖̠̣̆͂̆̾ͮ̈a̸ͯͮ̊͂ ̂g̗̻̦͓͎͒͒͊͢o͆̓̌ͣ͒̄̚o͔̗͈̐̄̐ͥ̓ͥd̮͉͉͛ ̶̼p̫̜̱͇̩̓͑̓̎̔͆̿͘u̯͚̖͊̇͠p͎̤̮̤͎ͪ͝p̢̪̠̹̠͉͖̤ͦ̎̉̍̚e̱ͪ̓ṱ̡̬̬̮͕̓͌.̲͇̼͇͟

  
  


But Anti did his best to ignore them, almost seeing some kind of clearing ahead. Almost there. Something told him that the strings would stop if he could only get out of the trees. Almost there. Were those people? Almost-

  
  


Anti burst through from between the black trunks, a swarm of red just brushing the back of his shirt as he collapsed onto the dirt floor, panting and coughing as he tried to catch his breath. Someone was already helping him up. 

  
  


“G-Get your hands off me!”

  
  


Henrik’s voice answered him, another layer of noise blending with the static, the whispers, Anti’s own harsh breaths. “So you can go back to tormenting us?”

  
  


“What?”

  
  


When Anti glanced up in confusion, he was met with the sight of Henrik covered in blood, blank eyes staring at nothing as more blood began to slide from his lips, from his nose, and Anti recoiled in horror, hitting the ground again. He looked past Henrik for an escape route, and glimpsed Chase slumped over on his knees, back to the both of them. “CHASE! HELP!”

  
  


His heart leapt into his throat when he saw the other begin to turn, but he was blocked off by more of the others appearing, some battered and bruised, others with shallow cuts littering their skin. They began closing in as Anti scrambled back. A string brushed his shoulder, returning the static to full force. Anti could only screw his eyes shut and whimper in pain. They kept talking around him regardless, calling him a murderer, a monster, a mistake. Even Chase’s voice was there somewhere, quiet and hesitant as it was.

  
  


The voices became louder and louder, static buzzing like a swarm of wasps in his brain. Anti didn’t even notice when he began speaking, pleas growing louder to combat the rising cacophony around him. Even as the volume of his own voice climbed to a scream, nobody was listening, nobody could hear him, they didn’t want to, even as he was still screaming-

  
  


“ANTI!”

  
  


Anti woke screaming in Chase’s arms. Gentle hands were running through his hair, a gentle voice reassuring him as he thrashed around. “Anti, shush, shush, hey. It’s okay! You’re safe, it’s okay.”

  
  


Hours crawled by as Anti remained unresponsive. Within the first half hour, his screams became whimpers. Followed shortly by an hour or so of sobbing into Chase’s shirt. Eventually, even the sobs petered out, though Anti kept his face buried in the now wet fabric. Chase was almost convinced Anti had fallen asleep on him, until he tried to move and felt cold hands grab onto his middle, silently begging him not to leave. Not that he so much as considered it. He just kept stroking Anti’s hair. The whole scene reminded him of sleepovers with his kids, whenever one would have a nightmare and come to his bed to be comforted. Not something he expected from Anti.

  
  


3am rolled by before Anti spoke. He glanced up, eyes still slightly wet and with the cut on his neck looking more raw than Chase had ever seen it without it gushing blood onto his shirt. “...’m sorry.”

  
  


“Hey, no apologizing. You had a nightmare, right? So that’s not your fault. Feel any better?”

  
  


“...No.”

  
  


Chase nodded, just smiling a little at Anti. “We’ve got nowhere to be, buddy. I mean...it is three in the morning. Try and get some more sleep, and I promise I’ll stick around. Not my turn to do breakfast, anyway. We can skip if you’re not up to it?”

  
  


Anti gave him a grateful smile, curling up closer. “Promise?”

  
  


“Promise.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're enjoying the story, why not check out The Divide AU too?


	5. Penpals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not expect this to sit in my WIPs for so long! I'm so sorry, and thanks if you're still here!

Having a penpal live in the same house as you kind of defeated the point, as far as Anti knew. When Chase handed him a sepia-coloured envelope he'd apparently found pushed under the door, je just scoffed at the idea of writing to someone. Then again, he did love technology, so maybe that had something to do with it. Text and e-mail had replaced traditional writing years ago, and any attempt to deny it came off as almost quaint. Writing letters was for old people. 

  
  


Since the letter had his name on it, written in swooping cursive, he decided he may as well open it. Inside were two sheets of paper, neatly folded. One covered top-to-bottom in the same handwriting, the other with a small chunk of writing, then a doodle. Less to read on that one, so he started with that.

  
  


_ Anti i herd you had a nitemare and i hope you feel better now. i put a drawing in for you! I'll come see you soon! _

  
  


Under that was a crayon drawing of himself and Robbie. Signed by the zombie. It wasn't great by typical standards, but it warmed Anti's heart. Maybe letters  _ were _ good for something. So he should probably check out the next one.

  
  


_ Dear Anti, _

_ I know you may not be thrilled by the prospect of interacting with the rest of us so soon after the incident, but I couldn't help but worry about you upon hearing you last night. I will respect your privacy and avoid mentioning it, but I am only in the room next door if you would like to talk. I often stay awake to read or write, so please feel free to join me if you require some company in the later hours of the night. Mr.Brody may need his rest before work. _

_ Hopefully you enjoy the artwork included in here! Though I offered to scribe for him, Robbie insisted on writing his own letter. He's always looked up to you, I suppose. I know you may not be keen on interacting with us, given your less than positive first impression, but please spend more time with Robbie. You would both benefit from it.  _

_ It's rather late, so I won't drone on here any longer. Perhaps I'll see you at a meal later?  _

_ With all my best wishes, _

_ Jameson Jackson _

  
  


Anti smiled at the letter, carefully re-folding both and slipping them back in the envelope to keep them safe. He could feel the look Chase was giving him. All...sappy and gooey. Bleh. Anti just shot him a glare and hung onto the letter.

  
  


While he didn't quite feel up to eating with everyone after the night he'd had, that gave him plenty of time to re-read his letters, faintly smiling. He drifted off holding them, but woke up with them on the bedside table, slightly crumpled but overall intact. Probably Chase. On top was a note from him, just noting that he had left to work a night shift. The kids wouldn't be happy that their dad couldn't tuck them in.

...kids? Where did that come from? 

Well, he had to have kids, right? Since he was all fatherly? Yeah. Yeah, that was it. It wasn't- Wait! He must have known Chase's kids before losing his memory! That was far more likely, right? Phew.

…Did that mean his memory was coming back?

Nah. It was one thing. One tiny, insignificant detail. The kids were-

The kids were staring up at him, the red light almost eerie as it reflected in their large eyes, wide with fear and apprehension. Footsteps approached slowly. Their father. Such fear, rich and thick, like blood in the water. Sam reached for his sister’s hand without looking away from Anti. Anti let him. They wouldn’t try anything. After all, Henrik was watching them, and he knew better. The bruise on his neck was still dark as the day he’d first tried to defy him. Before he’d learned better. He cradled the children against his own chest, thinking he could protect them. Thinking he could reassure Chase with his little postcard. Thinking he could protect everyone, save everyone, keep the wolves away from his poor little lambs-

A warm hand landed on his shoulder. When Anti jerked away sharply, the hand quickly withdrew. Just the shortie in the suit. And he'd just tapped Anti because he didn't talk. Thank fuck. 

Shortie wrote on a notepad that he'd seemingly pulled from nowhere, with a pencil Anti hadn't recalled seeing before. It had a cute little mustache-shaped eraser on the end. That eraser saw plenty of use as Shortie would write something, pull a face, and hastily erase whatever he'd been trying to say. Ten minutes later, he finally showed the note to Anti. 

_ It's just Jameson. I'm not here to harm you, I simply heard you mumbling to yourself. Are you quite alright, old chap? _

Anti shrugged. "Guess so. Weird stuff happening. Seeing shit." 

That had Jameson frowning, taking Anti's hand in his smaller one.  _ Might it be in conjunction with your nightmares? From what I heard, they were highly unpleasant. And Chase seemed involved in both cases.  _

“How did you-?”

_ You said his name. And...a few others.  _ Jameson squeezed the other’s hand lightly, holding open his arms to let Anti come and hug him at his own pace. For a second it seemed that nobody was going to move. The glitch was hesitant to hug him, but Jameson was patient, considerate; he wouldn’t push for anything that Anti wasn’t ready for. Thankfully Anti seemed ready. He all but shot into Jameson’s arms, slim yet muscular arms squeezing tight. “S̠̜̬̞̙-̰S͝o͟me͕̹̹th̠̭̦͡i͔̦̗͓̤n̶g̺͉’̟s̺͍͢ ͎̘̕w̙̘̹͡ͅro͔͚͙̣͚̦n͓̖̝͓g̜̥͔̫͔ ̥͖̪͙̰͝wi͍̟̼͓̜͓t̴h͏̮͇ m̬͖̜͈̞e̮̯͘-”

Jameson nodded as he changed their positions, laying Anti against his chest, gently rubbing his back. Neither of them saw the need to mention that Anti was crying again. Maybe crying was more normal than he thought around the Septic household.

Anti found that he was strangely okay with that.


End file.
